US Midterms 2026
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Republican U.S. senator from Nebraska since 2023 and governor of Nebraska from 2015 to 2023, seeking a full Senate term in 2026 against independent Dan Osborn.
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Pete Ricketts.
Recent media coverage for Pete Ricketts.
Now, Ricketts remains favored to win, enjoying about a 4 in 5 chance of success in Decision Desk HQ’s Senate forecast. While the polls are close, Ricketts’s chances are helped by Nebraska’s firmly red lean.
KETV NewsWatch 7 has the information you need to prepare for Election Day. Get the key dates, important issues and answers to the questions that matter before you vote.
A super PAC supporting independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn reported spending $3.4 million for advertising targeting Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts ahead of the the Nov. 3 election.
Nebraska independent Dan Osborn, who is running against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, would "yes, absolutely" accept the outcome of the election, according to a campaign spokesperson.
OsbornNebraska independent Dan Osborn, who is running against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, would “yes, absolutely” accept the outcome of the election, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Nebraska independent candidate Dan Osborn, in his second run for U.S. Senate, has made a habit this cycle of creating digital ads that are only slightly less over the top than the Oscar-winning film Everything…
Cornhusker Majority, a Scottsbluff, Nebraska-based super PAC, has reported approximately $7.08 million in independent expenditures in Nebraska's U.S.
OsbornRepublican North Carolina Senate nominee Michael Whatley had no future linear advertisement booked in the state as of Wednesday.
WhatleyIn Nebraska's Senate race, Republican Pete Ricketts is betting voters will see independent Dan Osborn as a Democrat, while Osborn argues he answers to neither party.
Pete Ricketts is a Republican politician, former two-term Nebraska governor and current US senator.
No story this week names this candidate.
Ricketts was born on August 19, 1964, in Nebraska City, the eldest of four children of Marlene Ricketts, a teacher, and Joe Ricketts, who founded the brokerage that became TD Ameritrade; later the family relocated to Omaha.
He graduated from Omaha's Westside High School in 1982 and from the University of Chicago, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in biology in 1986 and an MBA in marketing and finance in 1991. He joined his father's company in 1993 and rose through executive posts to chief operating officer.
With other relatives, he is a part owner of the Chicago Cubs.
Ricketts left Ameritrade in 2006 to run for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee and lost to Democratic incumbent Ben Nelson, 36% to 64%.
In 2007 he co-founded the Platte Institute for Economic Research, and from 2007 to 2012 he served the Republican National Committee as a national committeeman.
In the 2014 race for governor of Nebraska, he won the six-candidate Republican primary with 26.6% of the vote and defeated Democrat Chuck Hassebrook in the general election with 57.1%. Inaugurated on January 8, 2015, as the 40th governor, he was reelected in 2018 with 59.0%.
He supported capital punishment, and in 2018 Nebraska conducted its first execution since 1997.
After his second term ended on January 5, 2023, Governor Jim Pillen appointed him on January 12 to the Senate vacancy left by Ben Sasse's resignation, and he took the oath on January 23, 2023. In the 2024 special election for the remainder of Sasse's term, he defeated Democrat Preston Love Jr., 62.6% to 37.4%.
Ricketts announced on September 21, 2025, that he would seek a full term, and he won the Republican primary on May 12, 2026, with 81.5% of the vote. His main opponent is Dan Osborn, a former union leader running as an independent, as he did in 2024. Nebraska Democrats endorsed Osborn, and Cindy Burbank, who won the Democratic primary with party support, withdrew from the general election in July 2026 to back him.
